Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Quiche

I decided to try another recipe from the new Vegan Family Favorites cookbook today. I used mini-tart pans to make individual Quiche Lorraines filled with crumbled Smart Bacon and broccoli in a savory tofu custard. I packed one mini-quiche along with some honeydew melon balls and two chocolate creme Oreos for dessert. Beverage: vanilla soymilk with a shot of the hoity-toity all natural French hazelnut syrup my husband bought me for Valentine's Day (isn't he sweet? -- we love soymilk with hazelnut, the flavors are so right together).Verdict: I added a bit more silken tofu than the recipe called for so the texture was quichey but solid enough to travel well. If I were to make it again I think I would add some nutritional yeast flakes for a "cheesier" taste. Shmoo said it was "good!" but still left the edges behind -- even flaky pastry crust gets the cold shoulder! 4 stars.

Actually, even the original Oreos are vegan now. It's strange, because I've only been vegan for two years, and in the beginning, they weren't, but then suddenly (I think starting this past summer), they were! I personally like Newman-O's better though.

Check out this site that lists all kinds of prepackaged traditional grocery store goodies that are vegan. Course that doesn't mean they are healthy necessarily. They may have trans fat or be sugan laden,etc. But still, it's pretty inspiring nonetheless.http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/

I just wanted to let you know that I love your blog. I am not a vegan, but I am coming back to my vegetarian roots. I admire all the care and effort that you put into your son's lunch. I really appreciate the ideas and how carefully crafted each of your posts are.

I would imagine that if Jennifer meant Newman's O's, she would have typed that instead of Oreos. :)

And remember - vegan doesn't automatically mean healthy! Oreos are vegan because they don't contain products derived from animals. That just means that the "cream" in the middle is really a bunch of chemicals that, when mixed together just right, make something sweet with a creamy consistency. Not that I'm bashing Oreos - I definitely love them! Just saying that they're not "all natural" just because they're vegan.

im hoping u revamp the recipe to your own liking..including the added tofu and possible nutritional yeast flakes and add to the upcoming cookbook..btw the lunch looks great..big fan of cantaloupe and honeydew..and that soymilk drink sounds interesting..its so nice to have a school vacation this week and be able to keep up with the daily lunchbox -AP Environmental Girl

I have recently become addicted to the Back to Nature creme sandwich cookies. They are vegan and a little healthier than Oreos as they contain zero trans fat and don't have high fructose corn syrup. You might want to give these a try.

:) Sorry to dwell on the oreos issue, but isnt the trans fat from animal adipose sources? Or is it just some heavy veggie oil. Anyway, nothing wrong with letting the kid have SOME non vegan food right? I mean this isnt a competition to be perfect, you just want him to be healthy.

I think a vegan quiche sounds lovely! Has shmoo always been vegan and such a good eater? I have a 17 month old son that is vegetarian (only part-time vegan) like his dad and me, but is increasingly getting picky about his food! Any tips for a picky eater?

No, trans-fat does not come from animal adipose (aka fat) tissue. It starts life out as plant oils that are then, basically, heated for a long time which adds hydrogens and breaks double bonds in the fat molecules. I believe Oreos around here are trans-fat free, but I could be mistaken...and it's too late to google it. =) happy eating!

transfat is not from animal sources. Transfat are fats (from any source) that have been hydrogenated so that they stay stable at room temperature and do not get rancid if not refrigerated. You can hydrogenate any fats but as far as I know, you don't need to hydrogenate lard for it to be OK at room temperature.

I'm in California and the Oreos near me are vegan. Yum!

As to the GMO issue - most companies that make products sold at health food stores that have soy are aware and almost all use non-gmo or organic (and thus non-gmo) soy. A few of the larger companies like Morningstar (owned by Kellogg) don't care. But even Boca now uses it and they are owned by Kraft.

Re picky eaters, my Mom pretty much let me eat what I wanted as long as it was healthy. I remember taking the same kind of sandwich to school for weeks because it was my favorite. As long as things are nutritionally complete, maybe no need to worry. As he gets older, he'll probably be more interested in a variety of foods, esp. if they are at the table for others.

I would assume it is impossible to know whether the sugar used in Oreos is vegan or not unless someone has written a letter to the company asking if they screen where their sugar comes from and how it is made. I think Newman's puts "organic sugar" in their Newman-os, but I don't know if organic sugar is also vegan sugar.

I think on the Westcoast they're vegan and in the mid-west and eatscoast they aren't vegan. That's what I have found since I eat a lot of junk while road-tripping and tend to come across Oreos from state to state. I noticed it (after buying, not eating) in Kansas, and passed them along.

(I am a food chemist by trade)...trans fatty acids have the double bonded hydrogen atoms arranged at opposite diagonal sides of the carbon chain of the fatty acid molecule created by partial or full hydrogenation, and cis fatty acids have the double-bonded hydrogen atoms arranged on the same side of the carbon chain of the fatty acid molecule. Indeed, any type of hydrogenation does prevent rancidity of the fat, especially at room temperature, and that's the role of the trans-fatty acid in recipe development. Naturally-occurring fatty acids are always in the cis-conformation and considered the "healthiest" and those that are altered through partial hydrogenation are in the trans-conformation which can have a negative impact on health. It's a fallacy that you can convert naturally-occurring cis-fatty acids to trans-fatty acids through high heat like in a frying pan, hot oven or deep fryer which the chemical reaction that is really occurring is oxidation. That's when you smell the stink which is the rancidity that is occurring of the oil. This specific conversion to trans-fatty acid is only through hydrogenation.

Lard is from an animal source and is a very saturated fat. It's almost supersaturated. That's why is stays hard at room temperature because the carbon chain is saturated with hydrogen atoms, making for very stable molecules and solid state at room temperature. You can always tell a saturated fat because it does maintain its solid composition at room temperature. Palm kernel oil, coconut oil, cottonseed oil, cocoa butter, and all fats from animal food products contain saturated fat.

Also...a bit off beat...Pacific Foods has a Hazelnut milk that is absolutely delicious and is available in the section with the soy, nut and seed milks. My kids absolutely love it...!I do too...

I hope that I provided some helpful information about trans-fatty acids. Thanks again, Jennifer, for the wonderful resource. MLS

Do you ever eat any kind of vegan jerky? When I became lacto-ovo, beef jerky was what I missed the most, but I couldn't find one that resembled meat enough to satisfy me (isn't that always the problem with trying to substitute mocks for the real thing?).

However, just recently, since I've loooong forgotten the taste of beef, I picked up some Tofurky Jurky and I LOVE it! It's got a ton of protein for when I've been running low throughout the day, and it tastes so wonderful. Salty and sweet and meaty without being gross.

first and foremost, the I can't believe it's vegan list has been proven time and time again to have tons of NOT vegan items on them, I think they even have a warning level, so be cautious if you tend to be really careful about small chemicals and things.second, not all vegan people worry about the origin of the sugar they consume, it's just a personal choice depending on their ability to avoid it or not. I know most of my college age friends just don't worry about it, b/c they either A)don't have the money, or B) are already worried about so many other things that they need to let some things slide, personal choice and stuff.Finally oreos are totally vegan in some places on the east coast, I live in PA and I remember my friends getting super stoked this summer when they could finally eat oreos again, it was pretty funny :)

Wow, very interesting recipe there. I must admit you have incredible strength to live with a meatless diet.I tried that three times when I was in college, the longest attempt lasted about a week, but I must admit I lost quite a bit of weight and gained some physical strength and fitness from that and maintained a lot of that since, but what I gained more importantly is the respect for other people's diets.Though meat is still an integral part of my diet I respect and commend those who live a vegetarian and even vegan lifestyle. In my mind it is not what you eat, but what is in your character, that matters more than anything else.

I definately hope the quiche recipe is in the cookbook!! I love it and I miss it!! It would add a whole new world of goodness! Did you make the crust yourself? I have used premade and made my own but I was just curious! I can't wait until the summer time when the melons are in season! All of the ones I have had recently are so bland!

For the person asking about vegan jerky-- I personally LOVE Stonewall's Jerquee. It doesn't taste exactly like beef jerky, I guess, but it's really, really good with a good texture. I like the mild flavor the best, m'self. It's so good, it's totally turned me off of beef jerky. (Yay!)

if in the event that my blog became the biggest thing on the internet imagineable, I am wondering if you would consider doing a healthy eating column for non-electronic publication. You can find out more at: http://peoplesmedium.blogspot.com

How odd that in some states the very same cookie would have different ingredients. Wouldn't it taste different? I just assumed it would be the same everywhere. I saw golden Oreos sometimes in little Shmoos lunch and thought, yummy! I checked the label and here in Southern Ontario they are not vegan. However, the original Oreos seem to be.

Atomica, when I first tried to go vegetarian, I was hungry all the time. The problem was, I was clueless about what I could eat. If you just take a regular American diet and take out animal flesh, there isn't enough left. You have to expand your horizons - borrow vegan cookbooks from the library, look in the veggie/organic sections of the supermarket or other food store.

In New York, I've seen both vegan and non-vegan Oreos. I'm under the impression that the old recipe(with whey) is being "phased out" and replaced with the new recipe. However, like many companies, they will make old-recipe until their stock of ingredients are completely changed over so as not to lose money. Even if Oreos are generally vegan in your area, always always ALWAYS double check!

I never liked quiche, be it egg- or tofu-based. I used to make an amazing quiche for holidays that everyone but me loved. I'll pass on this one, but I'll agree that soymilk + hazelnut = awesome.

I'll have to check the Oreo ingredients here in Edinburgh to see if they're vegan, but I'm pretty sure they've stuck with the old whey of doing things. I have to say, when I was living back in Seattle I used to buy Newman's "Ginger-O's" all the time. I miss those things.

>>Also...a bit off beat...Pacific Foods has a Hazelnut milk that is absolutely delicious and is available in the section with the soy, nut and seed milks. My kids absolutely love it...!I do too...

Oh, yeah!! That is my all-time favorite non-dairy milk. Mmm.

Hi, Eli -- Yes, we've tried lots of vegan jerky, and we liked Tofurky Jerky best. I have to watch shmoo when Tofurky Jerky is in the house; he'll eat an entire package in one sitting and give himself the too-spicy hiccups!

>>Any thoughts about starting a message board?

I used to go to some great vegan discussion boards. PPK and Vegan Freaks come to mind, although I haven't had time to visit either of them since the blog took off, so I don't know what they're like now. Anyone have any good discussion boards to recommend?

Totally love this blog and all the yummy lunch ideas you post and display!! Any omnivore could come here and see how SIMPLE and YUMMY it is to be vegan - great job, as usual. I mean, vegan quiche? Wow, I would've never thought of that, but I'd love to try it out now that I saw the pic. Kudos!!

i arrived in WA late last week, and right now i'm in bellingham visiting my sister-in-law. this place has an amazing large food co-op, where my husband (an omni) and i picked up toffuti, silk, and organic veggie products/e and ate a frozen vegan picnic lunch in a bay-side park. (we were frozen, not the food.) i picked what to eat from my memory of your recommendations! it was most excellent and yummalicious.

and of course i'm keeping up with the veganlunchbox on my holiday. :-9

I made jerky at home with extra-firm tofu, braggs, liquid smoke, and spices. I got the recipe out of the cookbook "How it all Vegan" Co-Authored By Sara Kramer. They also have an awesome recipe for chickpea nibbles! mmmmmmmmm

Wow, you have some really wonderful ideas!! Thought I'd share this vegan cornbread recipe with you. It's from Dr. Weil's website. http://www.drweil.com/u/Recipe/Recipe10028/. I made the cornbread last night and it was yummy! (You'll have to add more water than what the recipe calls for). :)

Try www.veganstore.com for jerky.They sell Tofurky Jerky, Jerquee, Dry Style jerky and Quick Stix (not jerky, but in that snack class). I like Tofurky Jerky for its chewy toughness, but I like Jerquee for its variety of flavors.

Come check out the new Meme I started! It’s the Midweek Munchies Post with a code to (hopefully) make it easier. I would love for you to help get this thing started and help spread the word! I think it will be fun!!!Harmoniahttp://harmonia.blogsome.com

I can't wait to try another vegan quiche. I haven't made one in about 10-15 years since I tried a couple things with silken tofu that turned out disastrous. I made a Boston "Creme" pie and some savory custard thing, but the blender I used was just terrible, so it was grainy and beany and weird. With your recipe and my supersonic blender, I can only have success!!

BTW, I made the vegan jell the other day (I made pineapple flavor), and I completely forgot I didn't have corn starch until after I had started. So I used the EnRG egg replacer powder-- it's basically just potato starch, so I figured it would be a fine substitute, and it was. My fiance liked it but said it could be sweeter. (See, I told you he was like your seven-year old.)

Hi, Sonya! You're right, a supersonic blender is an absolute must for these types of things. I have a VitaMix and don't know how I survived before. I think you should go back and try Boston "Creme" pie again -- it sounds good!

Pineapple jell sounds wonderful. And I think your husband and shmoo would make good dinner companions. :-)

>>Did you make the crust yourself?

Yes, I used my tried-and-true recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook, using Spectrum organic non-hydrogenated shortening.

Please post this recipe. I have had quiche one time in my life, many years ago before I went vegetarian or vegan, and it was really good. I would like the challenge of making one w/o eggs/other animal products